Mark Cutifani, the chief executive of Anglogold Ashanti, who will take over as CEO of Anglo American in April 2013.

South Africa’s turbulent mining sector looked set to get rougher Thursday after the incoming chief executive of one of the largest operators in the country, Anglo American, shot a warning at the country’s government: Threats won’t help.

The comments come as Anglo American finds its plans to restore profitability at its loss-making platinum business in South Africa by shutting two mines and selling another, hindered by the government, which objects to the loss of 14,000 jobs.

The Secretary General of ruling party the African National Congress, Gwede Mantashe, has called on the government to revoke the licenses of mine companies that shut operations and dismiss employees.

“The threats to licenses are out of order,” said Mark Cutifani, who is CEO of Africa’s largest gold producer AngloGold Ashanti, but will take the helm of Anglo American in April.

Anglo American Platinum Ltd, the world’s largest platinum producer, announced plans Tuesday to suspend platinum production equivalent to about 7% of the world’s total annual output but analysts warned may be bigger than it sounds.

The company, which is majority owned by U.K.-listed miner Anglo American PLC and produces about 40% of the world’s platinum, said it will suspend production at several mines in South Africa, resulting in 14,000 job losses and production cuts of about 400,000 troy ounces of platinum annually.

The cuts will come from shutting four of Anglo Platinum’s operations in the Rustenberg region near Johannesburg. Anglo Platinum also plans to divest its Union mines when it finds a buyer.

The restructuring means that Anglo Platinum is now targeting platinum production of 2.1 million to 2.3 million ounces annually compared to 2.53 million ounces of refined platinum produced in 2011.

Analysts described the production cuts as “meaningful” but two banks cautioned investors that the headline figure may be over-stated and should be treated with a grain of salt.

A week may be a long time in politics, as former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once opined, but it may feel like a lifetime in Bank of America Merrill Lynch world, when looking at Standard Chartered. Just two days after downgrading the U.K. bank to underperform from buy after it was accused by the New York regulator of illegal financing dealings with Iran, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has upgraded Standard Chartered to neutral from underperform.

Standard Chartered continues to defend its position strongly, noted Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and presumably it would not take such a strong line with its regulator unless it was very sure of its position.

“The stakes are clearly very high. Given the high degree of uncertainty, and the possibility that the outcome may prove less damaging to StanChart than at first appeared, we think it is prudent to upgrade,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch added.

Moving to the U.K. online grocery sector, UBS has downgraded Ocado to sell from neutral, saying the consensus forecasts for next year are too bullish. Ocado continues to gain market share, UBS added, but there is little persuasive evidence that a tipping point for more positive analysis is approaching.

Platinum miners are taking a beating as one of their main customers, car producers in Europe, are finding the economic road a bumpy one to travel on.

In the past four weeks mining conmpanies in the world’s largest producer of platinum—South Africa–have announced mine closures and operational reviews in an effort to save cash and weather the downturn with platinum now trading below the price of gold.

This week, the world’s largest platinum producer, Anglo American Platinum, said its earnings in the first half of the year could be down as much as 20% from the same time last year on account of lower prices and weak demand.